Varna Airport

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Varna Airport
Летище Варна
VAR Terminal2.jpg
IATA: VAR – ICAO: LBWN
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Fraport Twin Star Airport Management
Serves Varna Bulgaria
Location Varna, Bulgaria
Hub for <templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>
1
Elevation AMSL 70 m / 230 ft
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Website www.varna-airport.com
Map
VAR is located in Bulgaria
VAR
VAR
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,517 8,258 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 1,387,494 Increase

Varna Airport (Bulgarian: Летище Варна, Letishte Varna) (IATA: VAR, ICAO: LBWN) is the airport of Varna, the historical maritime capital of Bulgaria. Varna Airport is the third largest airport in Bulgaria and an important destination during the summer leisure seasons. The airport is located 10 kilometers from the center of Varna near the town of Aksakovo. The airport serves Varna and northeastern Bulgaria.

History

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The history of the airport dates back to 1916 when two sheds for the first hydro-port in Bulgaria were built in the Peinerdzhik area (present-day Chaika residential area). Irregular mail-plane service from Sofia to Varna was held between 1919 and 1920 and it was not until 1947 that a permanent airline between the two cities was established. What had grown into Tihina Airport was situated west of the present-day Asparuhov bridge and was indeed quite primitive for the demands of a modern city. Thus in 1946 a decision was made and a new airport was constructed several kilometres west of the city, near the village (now town) of Aksakovo, with local people enthusiastically working on the site together with the constructors. Construction and improvement continued throughout the years, with a new terminal built in 1972 and a new runway in 1974.

In 2013 a new passenger terminal opened and the one constructed in XX centery was closed down.

There are domestic and international flights form Varna to about 70 destinations in 25 countries, with Bulgarian and foreign airlines. The airport is close to the Port of Varna and the railway system. The airport has one asphalt covered runway 09/27 with ILS CAT I system on 09 edge and a parking apron for 24 aircraft.

Currently Varna Airport is subject to heavy traffic with the growing tourism industry in Bulgaria and is in need of major investments to modernize, expand and handle projected passenger traffic. In June 2006 the Bulgarian Government awarded Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide a 35-year-long concession on both Varna and Burgas airports in return for investments exceeding €500 million, including a new passenger terminal by 2008.

From 15 October 2011 until 28 February 2012, Varna airport was closed for a reconstruction of the runway. All flights were operated to/from Bourgas Airport.[1]

In 2014 the airport handled 1,387,494 passengers - a 5.2% increase compared to 2013.

Terminals

Terminal 2 gate area

The airport has three terminals: Terminal 1, built in 1972 (closed), and Terminal 3 (opened in June 2007), which was used during the summer season and the new Terminal 2, opened in August 2013.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 /closed/ has been extended several times over the years. The departures area had 21 check-in counters and six security checkpoints. In the terminal there were various outlets: cafes, fast food restaurants, currency exchange, and duty-free shops. There were ten boarding gates. The arrivals area had two luggage belts, as well as currency exchange and a tax-free shop. Terminal 1 still has a VIP room and business lounge. In 2010 the VIP room at Varna Airport was renovated. As of 2014, all flights, including no-frills, are managed by Terminal 2. Hence, the old terminal is closed except the VIP area.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 started operations as of 18 August 2013. In December 2011 the construction work on new Terminal 2 began. T2 has a capacity of 1,800,000 passengers per year and 25 check-in desks. It covers an area of 18,000 m2. T2 buildings are designed so that their capacity could be further increased as an extension to the existing architectural part. The first passenger service on T2 was a domestic flight to Sofia operated by the national carrier Bulgaria Air and first international passengers served were from Minsk with flight of Belavia. T2 was designed by London-based architecture firm Pascall+Watson. Passengers can enjoy a large variety of retail outlets including a Bulgarian souvenir shop. Popular chains such as McDonald's, Costa coffee and beer outlet are available at the gate area right after check-in.

Airlines and destinations

BH Air Airbus A320 at Varna Airport
Bulgarian Air Charter McDonnell Douglas MD-82 LZ-LDP at Varna Airport.

There are domestic and international flights to about 75 destinations in 29 countries, more than 65 Bulgarian and foreign airlines. The busiest season for the airport is from the end of May to the beginning of October.

Scheduled flights

Airlines Destinations
Aeroflot
operated by Rossiya Airlines		 Seasonal: Saint Petersburg
Air Serbia Seasonal: Belgrade[2]
Austrian Airlines Vienna[3]
BH Air Seasonal: Glasgow-International (begins 7 May 2016),[4] London-Gatwick, Manchester, Zürich
Bulgaria Air Burgas, Sofia
Seasonal: Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Saint Petersburg, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion,[5] Vienna[6]
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zürich[7]
Finnair Seasonal: Helsinki (begins 3 June 2016)[8]
Germania Seasonal: Bremen,[9] Rostock (begins 25 May 2016)[10]
Israir Airlines Seasonal: Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
Jetairfly Seasonal: Brussels
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Meraj Airlines Seasonal: Terhran-IKA
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Oslo-Gardermoen
S7 Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo
Seasonal: Novosibirsk
SmartWings
operated by Travel Service[11]		 Seasonal: Brno (begins 16 June 2016),[12] Prague[13]
SunExpress Deutschland Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Leipzig/Halle, Stuttgart[14]
Thomas Cook Airlines Seasonal: Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
Wizz Air London-Luton

Seasonal Charter flights

Airlines Destinations
Air Berlin Düsseldorf
Air VIA Cologne/Bonn, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Erfurt/Weimar, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Nuremberg, Paderborn/Lippstadt, Stuttgart
Azur Air Moscow-Domodedovo
Belavia Minsk-National
BH Air Beirut, Billund
Bulgaria Air Beirut, Copenhagen, Kuwait, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Yerevan
Bulgarian Air Charter Basel\Mulhouse, Beirut, Berlin-Schönefeld, Berlin-Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Katowice, Kuwait, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Vienna, Warsaw-Chopin, Wroclaw, Yerevan
Enter Air Gdańsk, Katowice, Poznań, Warsaw-Chopin[15]
Eurowings Düsseldorf (begins 29 June 2016)[16]
Finnair Helsinki[7]
FlyEgypt Cairo
Germania Düsseldorf
Germanwings Berlin-Tegel
I-Fly Moscow-Vnukovo[7]
Jetairfly Brussels
Lufthansa Munich
Mahan Air Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Malmö Aviation Aalborg, Billund, Odense[7]
NordStar Moscow-Domodedovo, Saint Petersburg
Primera Air Aalborg, Billund, Copenhagen
Qeshm Airlines Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Small Planet Airlines Vilnius[7]
Small Planet Airlines Poland Katowice, Warsaw-Chopin
SmartLynx Airlines Riga
Smartlynx Airlines Estonia Tallinn
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium Brussels
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia Bergen, Bodø, Copenhagen, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Helsinki, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda, Trondheim
Transavia.com France Paris-Orly
Travel Service Prague[7]
Travel Service Poland Katowice, Poznań, Warsaw-Chopin, Wroclaw
Windrose Airlines Kiev-Borispyl
Yamal Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo [7]

Traffic figures

Traffic at Varna Airport
Ground handling of a Thomas Cook Boeing 767-300 at Varna Airport
Service
Varna Airport Passenger Traffic Statistics
Year Domestic Change International Change Total Change
1998 35,208 238,470 273,678
1999 57,955 Increase 64.6% 453,864 Increase 90.3% 511,819 Increase 87%
2000 67,508 Increase 16.5% 624,181 Increase 37.5% 691,689 Increase 35.1%
2001 48,121 Decrease 28.7% 884,428 Increase 41.7% 932,549 Increase 34.8%
2002 45,457 Decrease 5.5% 1,045,252 Increase 12.1% 1,090,709 Increase 16.9%
2003 41,583 Decrease 8.5% 1,144,766 Increase 9.5% 1,186,349 Increase 8.8%
2004 47,575 Increase 14.4% 1,271,552 Increase 11.1% 1,319,127 Increase 11.2%
2005 49,705 Increase 4.5% 1,496,175 Increase 17.7% 1,546,925 Increase 17.3%
2006 54,243 Increase 9.1% 1,468,415 Decrease 1.8% 1,522,658 Decrease 1.6%
2007 79,058 Increase 45.7% 1,399,035 Decrease 4.7% 1,478,093 Decrease 2.9%
2008 119,459 Increase 51.1% 1,313,244 Decrease 6.1% 1,432,703 Decrease 3.1%
2009 155,734 Increase 30.4% 1,050,801 Decrease 20% 1,206,535 Decrease 15.8%
2010 154,974 Decrease 0.5% 1,043,982 Decrease 0.6% 1,198,956 Decrease 0.6%
2011 117,431 Decrease 24.2% 1,046,453 Increase 0.2% 1,163,884 Decrease 2.9%
2012 126,952 Increase 8.1% 1,084,244 Increase 3.6% 1,211,196 Increase 4.1%
2013 130,668 Increase 2.9% 1,173,011 Increase 8.1% 1,303,679 Increase 7.6%
2014 Increase Increase 1,387,494 Increase 5.2%
2015 (01.01-30.11) Increase Increase 1,369,077[17] Increase 0.4%

Transport links

Bus

The Airport Bus stop to Varna and nearby resorts is located just outside Terminal 2.

Bus line № 409 Route: Varna Airport – Mall Varna– Varna Coach Station for Grand Mall – City Center (the Cathedral) – Saints Constantine and Helena, Bulgaria and Golden Sands Resort[18]

Taxi

The taxi piazza are located in front of Terminal 1 "Departures". A taxi ride from Varna Airport to the city center takes approx 15 minutes.

Incidents and accidents

  • On 24 May 2013, Air VIA flight 502 from Leipzig/Halle to Varna overshot the runway at Varna Airport after touchdown. Two people onboard were injured during evacuation.[19][20]
  • On 5 June 1992 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev 154B run off the runway in bad weather conditions. There war no casualties, but the plane was written-off.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Air Serbia flights to Varna goes seasonal[dead link]
  3. ↑ Tyrolean Airways to merge with Austrian Airlines
  4. ↑ http://www.novinite.com/articles/170013/Balkan+Holidays+To+Launch+Glasgow-Varna+Flights+Next+Summer
  5. ↑ https://book.air.bg/plnext/bulgarianNew/Override.action#/FDCS
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ http://www.chronicle.bg/%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BE/finnair-%D1%81-%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8-%D0%B4%D0%BE-%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D0%BB%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%BE-2016/
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/09/17/st-rlg-s16/
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/09/30/qs-s16update1/
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ https://www.germanwings.com/de/buchen/neue-strecken.html
  17. ↑ http://www.fraport.de/content/fraport/de/misc/binaer/investor-relations/verkehrszahlen/2015/verkehrszahlen-november-2015/jcr:content.file/11-traffic-sheet-2015-november_deutsch.pdf
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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